Worst Nightmare
by gotmilk
Summary: Very old. Revamping soon. One of Veronica's worst nightmares is going to come true, unless she can stop it in time...


~Worst Nightmare~

**_~Worst Nightmare~_**

**Season/spoilers info: Well, I can't really say when this takes place, because I don't know. (Why?) Well, I missed probably half of season 2 because the station it used to be on hadn't been showing it, so I'm still trying to catch up in repeats now that' it's finally back on, so give me a break please…lol;)**

**Content Warnings:A little bit more blood then I'm used to writing about, but not that much.Let's say less then an episode of ER. ;)******

**Disclaimer: If I owned it, my name would be on the credits, but it's not, obviously... ******

**Author's notes: Ok, honestly, I have not idea why I wrote this.It's probably the most _stupid thing ever, but I just suddenly felt like writing.I sat down for a few hours, and this is what I got because of it. Never attempted a Lost World story before...so this is _****_REALLY new territory for me. _**

And this had _not gotten any beta treatment, just a spell check on my PC, so I'm ****__really sorry about errors. What can I say? I suck at grammar…my English teachers would be __sooo proud I'm sure…_

**Feedback/review.... please, please, please?!?!******

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Veronica sat high up in the trees looking at the lowering sun that was slowly heading towards the horizon.Soon, it would disappear, and the land that filled the plateau would be blanketed in the thick darkness of night. Watching this was something she'd done since she was a child in this same spot, but now she knew something was different:

She was _happy._

For years she'd come here to cry, let out her emotions, or think about the horrible things she had seen or lived through.Now though, she didn't need to think about these things because she had a reason to go on when that sun came up the next day. Veronica had been alone for so many years after her parents had disappeared, but now, she had more friends then she had ever expected in this dangerous land.Almost 2 years ago, they'd appeared out of nowhere and into her life, and now she didn't think she could go on without them. Each had impacted her in some way: 

There had been Summerlee, the sweat old scientist who she had come to think of as a second father, and was sure he had felt the same way about her.She still missed him terribly, and after he'd fall to his apparent death, it had hurt worse then she could ever imagine.Still, she hoped he was at peace now, wherever life had taken him.

Challenger was like a father and friend mixed in one.She loved his eagerness to explore this strange land with her, and was happy to show him the wonders he had always dreamed of.

John Roxten was more of a brother type to her because they were closer in age, and they worked well together.He knew the more modern ways of the hunt, and she knew the older; yet they used both methods together.

Then there was Marguerite, the sometimes-selfish woman who would betray her own brother for what she wanted it seemed, and yet still could show compassion when she wanted to.Marguerite was still a very big mystery to Veronica.

Last was the most special to her, Ned Malone.He'd been the first person she had ever fallen for, in a relationship kind of way, and even the first moment she met him, saving his life to boot, she'd known there was something special about him. He was one of the most kindest men she had ever met, and really hoped he felt the same towards her.

Closing her eyes, and listening to the sounds of the forest, she began to slowly drift off in the shade of the huge tree, when some creature deeper in the forest screeched out.A few moments after that, the wind kicked up for an instant, a light breeze shuffling the leaves, then all was quite. There were no noises, Veronica sleepily noted, and just as suddenly, a shot rang out through the area.Sitting up quickly, she realized it was one of Challenger and Roxten's rifles. 

Jumping quickly to the next branch, she climbed the way down the tree and took off towards the tree house.Her legs and lungs burned as she sprinted through the lush forest, never slowing down. 

She ran for what fell like hours, when in reality it had only been a minutes and as she came nearer to her home, she began to see things she recognized and knew how close she was.After the first two shots, there had been silence, and she didn't know if that worried her, or made her feel better. Either way, the fight was over quickly, whether they had won, or lost against whatever it had been. 

_'They're ok, they're all ok,' she kept telling herself as she ran._

As she came upon her long time home, she gasp, because it was consumed in fire, and was already falling in burning pieces to the forest floor. She stopped and stared at her home, and a hand went over her mouth. Looking away, she searched at the bottom of the tree with her eyes, and saw that debris lay everywhere.Some was still burning, and yet the wall of fire had not touched others. Turning to her left, her eyes widened as she saw the first body.

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Running at full speed, she slid to a stop in front of Challenger, who was laying out on the ground, his gun a few feet away.She fell to her hands and knees and lay her head on his chest, feeling no heartbeat or breath coming from his still body.Screaming at him to wake up, she shook him once, then noticed the blood cover his back and stopped.He was gone, and there was nothing she could do now for him, except let him rest in peace. 

She hardly noticed the burning leaves floating down as she backed up, only to trip over something behind her. 

Scrambling to her feet, she saw another horrible site.Roxten lay face first in the grass, his gun still in his right hand, and Marguerite lay only a few away. There was blood everywhere and Veronica closed her eyes. 

'_This isn't happening, this isn't happening', she tried to think to herself as she opened her eyes again, leaving them, and once again searched the area, knowing what she was going to be forced to see next._

For a moment, she saw nothing, but then, the pain in her chest worsened, and her breath stopped.There he was.

Covering her mouth, she managed to walk over there, falling to her knees and gently touched Ned's face.She bowed her head, and closed her eyes, falling deeper into misery.

She sat doing nothing for a minute, before she froze; he'd grabbed her hand. 

She looked up, only to meet his pain filled gaze, but griped his hand back. "Ned, what happened here?" she managed. 

He swallowed, and only then did Veronica notice the small stream of blood coming from his mouth."T...they came and shot the tree house w...with arrows on fire," Ned said as he struggled to speak as he coughed. "We tried to g...et out, but they got us when we c...came out.We didn't have a cha..nce. There was t...too many."

His gaze wavered and he looked at her again."I'm s..s...orry Veronica," he said as he reached up and wiped a tear away from her face. 

They locked eyes until he could hold on no more, and he was gone.Veronica looked at him for another moment, and then looked away, crying.Just as her crying became sobs, she unexpectedly felt dizzy, and closed her eyes.There was darkness everywhere, and she felt like she was flying. Veronica was going down fast, and suddenly, there was pain.... 

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Veronica felt pain jar her entire body, and her eyes popped open just in time to see the next branch. She reached out as quickly as she could to grab it, but couldn't get her hands out fast enough to grip it in time. Her fingers slipped and she felt another sharp branch scrape past her legs, and she tried one more time. Her hands finally caught a large branch and she hung on for dear life. Wrapping her legs around and pulling herself up, she heaved a sigh and lay her head down on it, breathing hard. 

After calming herself, she looked up and realized she was back in the tree, with the sun even farther down towards the horizon.It had been a dream-- a horrible dream that had seemed all too real. 

Shaken up, she sat up and looked down.She was very close to the ground, and realized how far she had fallen. Putting a hand to her temple, she felt warm blood and a large bump. Looking at her legs and arms, she saw the scrapes and soon to be bruises, and noticed the very large bleeding gash on her thigh.

Not having anything to wrap it with, Veronica slowly climbed down and leaned against the tree trunk when she finally made it.Looking up, she couldn't see the sun anymore through the trees, and knew soon enough it would be dark.She had to get out of here quickly, or risk being injured and alone out here in the forest. 

Starting to walk, Veronica couldn't get the vision of her friend's faces out of her head.She'd never had a dream that powerful in many years. 

Continuing on, she froze as she heard a loud screech come from deep within the forest. Realizing it was the exact one she had heard earlier, she tried to tell herself it was nothing.Just as quickly as she calmed herself down, she felt a breeze blow through the area, and just as quickly, it stopped. Veronica forgot about her injuries, and took off running towards the tree house.

_'This could all just been my imagination going wild,' she thought as she ran. __'But am I willing to take that chance?' _

Suddenly, she put on an extra burst of speed.She wouldn't let it happen again if she was right, she couldn't.

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Slowing down and having to rest, Veronica gasped for breath. She was tired and hurting, even weak from blood loss.It probably wasn't a life-threatening amount at the moment, but it was enough to make her woozy.Managing to get herself going again, she jumped over a fallen log, and stumbled. 

_'I can't stop now, I can't stop!" _

She forced herself up, and with a muffled curse, she continued. Coming closer and recognizing more of the things around her, she paused.

_'Voices?'_

Stopping and leaning against a nearby tree, she listened closely; sure enough, men's voices could be heard.

Using every bit of stealth she could manage, she jogged away from the area and came around at a distance.Farther away, she could see the tree house still intact, and moving slowly, she came closer to the voices.A group of at least ten men, none anyone she had ever seen before, all stood preparing for something.Veronica looked closer and noticed arrows and bows laid about everywhere, but what caught her eye was the man holding the lit torch.__

Realizing what would happen if she didn't act, Veronica slowly pulled her knife from her belt and waited.If she made a run for the tree house now, they would see her no matter what.If she could sneak around and catch a few off guard, she might be able to warn the others before the men could get their arrows ready. Veronica knew she would have little chance of getting out alive, especially since she wasn't at her top physical self at the moment, but would rather risk her own life for the sake of the others. 

Gripping the end of the knife she listened to the men before she made her move.The one man who looked like the leader stood up and took the torch. Veronica saw the man and was a little surprised.He was considerably young, maybe thirty to mid thirties, and was nothing like the warlord types she had seen.He was handsome, and seemed intelligent.

"My loyal men," he started. "We will finally get a chance to repay these people for their intrusion into our camp. When the first arrow hits, they will flee their tree hideaway, and when they run out, we will have them. I want no survivors, is that clear?" 

The man smiled as the men around them agreed, and Veronica shrank back.

She 'did' remember these men.A few months before, Challenger, Roxten, Marguerite, Ned, and herself had traveled quite away from the tree house, only to run straight into a slave camp.There'd been few guards and slaves at this time, since the slaves were going to be moved into a larger camp farther away.The explorers and herself had freed the slaves, and had a quick fight, but when the guns were fired off, most of the guards ran, afraid of this new, strange noise.They'd never seen any of the men afterwards, and she'd forgotten about them.Apparently though, the slavers had not.

Running a hand through her blond hair, she prepared herself, and went into the fight, just as a group of ape-men decided to also. While she was surprised, it gave her a chance to take down more men. All of the slavers had been taken off guard at the site of a women coming at them with a yell, and just as much when they were jumped from behind by a group of hungry ape-men.As most went to fight the half human, half primate looking creatures, the others turned towards the jungle woman who was upon them. 

Veronica kicked out with her good leg, sending one man flying back into a nearby tree, and right after, another followed.She ducked away from his incoming club, and came back just in time to give the guy a punch in the jaw that knocked him flat. Behind her, he could hear the other struggles, and closer, she heard the leader screaming at his men to stay, but some were fleeing into the forest behind them.As most of the men were fighting the ape-men, Veronica used her free opportunity to call out to the person in the tree house who was most likely standing by for any danger... 

"ROXTEN!"

As she finished the call, she was startled as she flew backwards; a now increasing throbbing pain in her back. The leader stood a few feet away grinning wickedly, a club in his hand.He dropped the weapon and pulled his sword free, then approached her again. As he came closer, she kicked out towards his legs, sending him crashing to the ground. He was up in a matter of moments, but that we enough for her to be ready for another attack. The two circled each other as the amount of guards around them lessoned.There were slavers, and ape-men both, everywhere on the ground, dead, and the few who were now running for their lives. 

Before Veronica could figure out her next attack, she heard screaming of both men and beast.Both her and the slaver leader turned towards the sound, and both knew what it was. Raptors…

Suddenly, Veronica felt incredibly foolish.The raptors had surely smelt her blood and followed her here looking for a quick meal, only to run into a feast.Looking to end this quickly, the leader took another swing towards her as another man's death cry echoed around them.She struggled out of the way, barely, and felt her leg give.Tripping and falling, she came face to face with his sword. 

She felt time slow as the blade came towards her, only to see it being knocked aside.An ape-man had knocked the leader off his feet, and now the two wrestled.Knowing the creature had not been trying to save her life, and yet had in a strange way had, she made sure to take advantage of the chance. Veronica climbed to her feet, only to hear a shot ring out, and a bullet fly past her.She quickly turned to see an ape-man dead, only a few feet behind her, and Challenger in front of her holding his riffle.Off to her left, and she saw Roxten and Marguerite firing in the directions of the raptors.Managing to walk a few feet, she began to waver, but felt hands catch her as she fell. 

Then, Veronica knew nothing…

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**Epilogue**

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Two days later, Veronica was up and about, much to the objection of a few in the tree house.

"You really shouldn't be up, but why am I not surprised," Challenger had said as he left the house to help Roxen and Marguerite make more bullets.They'd used most of the others saving her two days ago, Veronica knew, and needed more before any of them dared leave the tree house. 

She felt very lucky they had come when they did, and knew she didn't think she would have been able to get out of there alive, especially with the raptors closing in.Ned had told her they had all rushed out when they had heard her call, and had been stunned by the scene.After Challenger had finished up the last ape-man, and as she had started to collapse, Malone had been right there, catching her before she could hurt herself anymore.They'd all then quickly hurried back to the house before the raptors got brave enough to face the gunfire and come after them.

Now, Veronica stood looking out one of the many openings in the tree house, and began to think; the day before yesterday, Roxten had went back to the scene, and counted nine bodies total, or what was left of them at least, in the surrounding area of the fight.One was still out there somewhere, and she had a good idea of it might be.

This information was stilling running through her mind as she felt a hand on her shoulder. Veronica turned and smiled as Ned handed one of her parent's teacups that was filled with a rank smelling brown liquid.She sniffed it, and made a face, but managed to swallow some.

"You would think he is trying to kill me, 'not' heal me," she said, forcing more down.

Ned laughed at her comment, but knew it was good for her."Well, Challenger says it will help you get your energy back," he said as she gave him a face, but he changed the topic. " I think Marguerite's jealous of you.I heard her complaining about how you got to stay in bed for two days."

Veronica only made a face."Well, it could have been a lot less time then that, but with you and Roxten threatening to tie me to the bed to keep me there, what could I do," she said as she finished her drink, then started laughing at Ned's trying to act innocent.

"Well, it was just suggestion!" he laughed.

Both continued to joke with each other as the day slowly turned to night, and Veronica once again watched the sun setting, this time from the tree house.She didn't believe she would dream this night, but knew if she had not two days ago, the others would have died, just like in her nightmare.It puzzled her how she could have foreseen something like that, but felt like something or someone was watching out for them all, and had just used her as a tool to keep them safe.Whatever it was, she hoped the next dream would not come for a long time.

She paused her thoughts just long enough to gaze at the beauty that was lowering itself in the sky.While the view was less visible then in her tree-hiding place, this was much better.Not because of the view, but the noises of laughter behind her as her friends joked with each other. Slowly, she turned away from the sun and went to join them. 

This was much better then any sunset.

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~Fin~

Aw, come on…you know you want to review…tell me I suck, I need to hear it…(Well, _'try' to be gentle for my poor ego anyway.) I'll just be hiding behind the PC now before the first tomato is thrown…bye!_

((Thanks Martin (*you know who you are*) for well, everything…you're a great online friend.))****


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